Person
by wolvesjr34
Summary: A one shot on how I would have ended 5x18.


_Everything is going to be okay._

Detective Jane Rizzoli was in bed, unsuccessfully trying to find the welcoming arms of sleep. Her mind kept returning to her conversation with her best friend, Doctor Maura Isles, at the Dirty Robber earlier that evening. There was something from that night's revelations, her own included, that kept dancing around the edge of her consciousness. She knew there was something important that she had missed; something that touched her deeply. There was something that changed everything.

Jane rolled from one side to the other hoping that readjusting comfort would allow her eyelids to settle and her brain to cease being so talkative. Naturally her brain refused to heed the desires of her aching body; it had a point it needed to make. Jane exhaled slowly, almost reluctantly, rolling onto her back she stared through the darkness at the ceiling.

_I was so focused on work and family and you and, and you were right I was afraid of what would happen if I couldn't keep my feelings in, in that little box; but I don't have to be afraid anymore._

Her own words floated into her consciousness as she continued to try and peel back the layers of that evening's conversation. Maura had been right; she had been choosing to deal with her losses from the year by shoving them away and not dealing with them at all. She had come to this conclusion without the need of sweat and smell and discomfort; Jane smiled to herself, at least her revelations had been sweat lodge free. She was allowed to miss Frost and she was allowed to mourn her baby and it was safe to do so, because Maura was there to be that pillar of support.

Jane sighed a little as she thought about how Maura had always found a way to pick her up, even when her pride prompted her to angrily retreat from the support of her best friend. She was Jane Rizzoli, it was her job to be the strong one; her job to be the support everyone needed, she couldn't show them weakness. And yet, she realised with Maura, she could. That had been her revelation, her epiphany. It had only taken her five years of real friendship to come to this conclusion.

"Damnit," she growled at nothing in particular. She could easily see the ceiling now as her eyes had adjusted to the dark and this irked her. She wanted her eyes to be adjusting to the back of her eyelids, not the darkness around her. "Stupid brain."

Jane tried closing her eyes one more time and it was then that her brain finally found its destination. The whole reason for her sleeplessness was one solitary word.

_Person._

Her eyes shot open.

_She said person. Maura said person._

Jane realised something else in that moment too, something that she had spent too many years pushing away into that box in her mind where she liked to store those too hard to deal with feelings. This realisation spurred her into lethargic action, fighting against the tiredness she felt she pulled herself out of bed and quickly changed into jeans and a BPD sweatshirt. She needed to see Maura, and in that moment she knew it couldn't wait until morning.

* * *

Unlike Jane, Maura had found sleep easily and as such was startled by the incessant banging that pulled her out of her dreams. Rolling over she looked at her alarm clock and furrowed her brow, it was after one in the morning. It meant the banging could only be one thing, Jane. She slipped out of bed and pulled a silky silver robe on over the top of the pyjamas made from the same material. Pyjamas that she was suddenly glad she had changed into before bed.

Maura diligently turned on several lights as she made her way downstairs to open the front door. At least Jane wouldn't have woken her mother by choosing the front door to bang on, rather than the side door nearest the guest house. Opening the door she stepped aside and allowed Jane's furious knocking momentum to carry her inside the foyer.

Closing the door behind them she turned to face her friend and politely stifled laughter at the site of Jane's black curls being extra unruly. "You do realise what time it is, don't you Jane?"

For her part, once she had halted her momentum, Jane found herself just staring at her best friend. She hadn't actually thought through fully her actions; she smiled sheepishly. "Not really, it's late."

"Very." Maura said as she glided past Jane and turned into the kitchen, fetching two beers from the fridge. She had a feeling that Jane was going to need a drink, and while she didn't often partake in the amber liquid herself, Maura didn't fancy wine and she didn't want her friend to drink alone. She handed Jane one of the beers when she joined her at the kitchen island. "Is everything alright?"

Jane eyed Maura warily, "You're drinking beer? At this time of night?" Both aspects of her questioning surprised her.

Maura chuckled as Jane opened her beer and sucked down a couple of mouthfuls. "It would be rude of me to let you drink alone." Sipping daintily the beer she held in her hand, Maura took a moment to truly assess her friend in front of her. Jane's unruly raven coloured locks framed a tired face, but while the tiredness was clear, there was something else present in darkened eyes. Jane seemed to be more alive than Maura could remember seeing her in a long time.

Jane couldn't help but smile as she watched the cogs of assessment turn in Maura's brain. Her friend was a lot more rested and her hazel eyes wore an inquisitive mask while her lips suddenly curled in a knowing smile. This threw the detective momentarily as she suddenly remembered why she was standing in Maura's kitchen at an ungodly hour. "You said person," she blurted out.

Maura's smile only broadened, "Yes Jane I did." She stood watching her friend unblinkingly waiting to see where the detective was going to take this revelation.

Feeling like a deer caught in headlights Jane turned her head a little and focused on the fridge as she hurriedly downed the rest of her beer. Placing the empty down on the island she returned her gaze to the clearly bemused features of her friend. All the thoughts that swirled in Jane's tired brain felt nothing but awkward but there Maura was, clearly amused by the entire situation. Then it dawned on her, "You," she said with a playful accusatory tone.

"Me what Jane?" Sweat Lodge revelation number four was about Jane and while she hadn't anticipated that the detective would so quickly put things together based on one little prompt, she was sure glad that she had.

"You knew!" Again Jane's voice was accusatory, but it hadn't really been a question, it was a statement of realisation.

"Knew what Jane?" Maura was enjoying the tortured look she brought to the face of the detective, she offered up a feminine shrug of the shoulder and tilted her head knowingly. Waiting.

Jane moved into Maura's personal space and reached out to tuck some golden locks back behind her ears. "That I was in love with my best friend."

"Sweat lodge revelation number four Jane." Maura smiled, pulled Jane into her, wrapped her arms around her waist and nuzzled her head under the chin of the taller woman.

Yeah, everything was going to be okay.


End file.
